Factors influence consumer buying decision via e-commerce

By having knowledge about consumer behaviour and online shopper purchasing decision from the previous section, it is easier to understand which aspects influence customer online shopping decision making.

Truly, there are much research has been done to identify factors that impact online shopper decision-making, depending on different points of view, every researcher’s conclusion about motivations that lead people to shop online via e-commerce are not the same.

By reviewing generation behaviour towards online versus traditional shopping, Nguyen et al.

(2018) consider technological factors, consumers related factors, such as price, product quality, service, and website preference. Many online shoppers said that they prefer shopping via e-commerce in case online prices are lower than offline prices. Along with this, user-friendly shopping sites which offer effective features supporting the shopping experience are good advantages. For example, nice pictures, and clear descriptions of products are useful for online shoppers during their purchasing process. Their research concentrates on Asian consumers, especially Vietnamese ones. It is supposed that product price and favorite website are aspects Vietnamese online customers care about the most. And to win the online consumer in Vietnam, product quality and delivery options are also valuable. Products with high quality always come from trusted retailers. For instance, most e-commerce sites commit to distribute products from reliable retailers. One of the conveniences of shopping online is home delivery, which means delivery options and delivery fees affect the shopping experience (Nguyen et al., 2018).

In another case, according to a report from KPMG International in 2017, understanding and keeping up with what motivates people to shop online is crucial, to succeed in the digital world.

The analysis of consumer online shopping preference and behaviour point out that people buy online is the convenience of shopping via e-commerce. As now people can easily buy anything at anytime from anywhere through the internet in the world. Plus, because of the ability to compare price levels from different resources, it is not difficult for online customers to get the best deal while choosing a seller, or website that offers the cheapest price. Especially, excellent customer support stays at the top reason in keeping consumers loyalty. As an example of a great strategy, e-commerce sites usually offer exclusive promotions, such as vouchers, coupons, or sale days, etc. But also, positive reviews about products from customers after purchasing. Those feedbacks help to increase the attractiveness of products, as well as website loyalty for other buyers (KPMG International, 2017).

Additionally, Hasslinger et al. (2007) also have similar comments about those factors. They believe the price, trust, and convenience are the main elements that significantly influence the consumers once purchasing online. Price is frequently used by consumers to consider product alternatives and evaluate product quality. While trust refers to emotional factors linked to

trust-17 related internet behaviour like purchasing, communicating, and sharing personal information.

And factor convenience is often perceived as making consumers feel more comfortable to shop online compared to the traditional way of shopping (Hasslinger et al., 2007).

In general, consumer online shopping purchase decision is such a main reason that led to the success of online retailers, and businesses, as well as the popularity of e-commerce platforms. In this situation, there is much competitiveness in the online market now. So, determining elements that affect online shopper buying decisions is essential for sellers and e-commerce sites to build suitable business strategies and promote profit.

There are a variety of factors that influence online shoppers' behaviour toward e-commerce. For instance, consumers can make a choice among diverse products with different prices on one online platform only, instead of going to many stores like before. Additionally, affordable price offers, and extra gifts are good motivations that lead consumers to buy online. Depending on consumer willingness, products can be delivered to a specific location, such as their home through shipping services. To summarize, those factors are website, product, price and promotion, shipping service, truth and privacy which have a significant impact on online shoppers’ buying decisions. They are five main factors on which this paper will focus.

2.4.1. The factor websites

It is true that one of factors that drives online shoppers buying decisions could be website preference and website design (Solomon et al., 2006). For example, the website with freeform or grid layout most useful for consumers once searching products within the online store. The website also must include fulfill and reliable information likes product descriptions, delivery options, or payment methods, etc. At the same time. E-commerce sites should provide responsive and helpful customer service that are always ready support customers by quickly replying to their questions during purchasing process. As a result, great customer service could make online consumers shop at the site again (Solomon et al., 2006).

To repeat, Nguyen et al. (2018) state that because online shopping is a computer-bases activity, customers are unable to directly touch products. Therefore, online shoppers often use the website interface to analyze the quality of products sold on e-commerce sites (Nguyen et al., 2018) . We can suggest that consumer online shopping decisions basically based on the available information provides by retailers on e-commerce sites.

2.4.2. The factor product Product diversity

According to Prajapati (2021), the huge selection and variety of product are one of the biggest motivations that lead consumers to shop online. Physical stores most often have the most and best-selling products as they have limited stock. Since sellers want to sell their in-store products

18 to manage the inventory in their physical stores. That causes the availability of product to be limited. Online shopping, on the other hand, offers a wide range of products from multiple sellers, or businesses. Many consumers prefer to purchase online as it allows them to browse and select products based on their preferences and current trend. Online may also order, or pre-own a product on the internet. It is easy for consumers to access a wide range of products on a single e-commerce platform. For example, by using e-commerce platforms, consumers even can buy second-hand products (Prajapati, 2021).

In other words, product diversity is one of the top reasons why consumers purchase online. It is easier to satisfy consumers’ needs as there is a diverse product offering on e-commerce sites. By providing a larger selection, information discovering, reliability, and product comparison, the online buying environment allows consumers to reduce their decision-making efforts (Nguyen et al., 2018).

Product quality

Indeed, one of the most important leading factors that have a direct impact on consumer online shopping decisions is product quality. Even if a business invests heavily in aggressive advertising and public relations initiatives instead of focusing on product quality. Then the product might not meet the consumer’s expectations. If consumers receive a poor-quality product, they will not repurchase it again. Thus, in the case of online shopping, a poor-quality product can cause a bad effect on future potential consumers, as some consumers may leave bad reviews about that product on e-commerce sites. Furthermore, providing low-quality products also causes bad influence on an e-commerce site’s reputation. On the contrary, in case products satisfies high-quality requirements, it will be accepted and trusted by consumers. Thus, they will repurchase the product, or suggest it to other consumers.

2.4.3. The factor price

In fact, the internet has become a worldwide marketplace where consumer can easily get information likes product information and prices. In the past, buyer could negotiate with sellers about the price of a product after checking it. But now, the price comparison can be made quickly via the internet. In most cases, consumers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by pricing. Consumers are more likely to be attracted by products that are on sale or have lower price. Consumers who are price sensitive are truly interested in price comparison on the internet.

However, instead of paying attention to the price, other consumers want to discover a unique and high-quality product that may be difficult to buy offline. Thus, the price is not their priority while deciding to buy the product. Even if the price is low, additional costs such as fright taxes, customs, or long-distance delivery can influence an online consumer’s choice to reconsider a purchase (Hasslinger et al., 2007).

19 Similarly, affordable prices are the reason why consumer decide to buy a product online. There are multiple alternatives for comparing pricing from different online stores, ore retailers. Since e-retailers understand the weakness of consumers who are sensitive with the price change. They continuously provide discounts on various products and greatest deal to motivate online shoppers to place an order (Prajapati, 2021).

Truly, e-commerce platforms daily provide deals, coupons, vouchers, rewards programs to their customers by sending e-mail or messages. Sometimes, online shoppers can receive promotions directly in their inboxes. This simplifies the price comparison process, which makes consumers feel more comfortable while deciding to buy a product Boice (2021).

Furthermore, Nguyen et al. (2018) state that price, or promotions and product features have the most significant influence on purchase decisions globally, as follow:

Figure 1. Consumer behaviour: Purchase decisions

Source: Nguyen et al. (2018)

2.4.4. The factor delivery services

In the point of view of Boice (2021), the convenience of free shipping is the difference between online and offline shopping. From a retailer’s perspective, offering free shipping encourages customers to spend and purchase more than they expected. For instance, if an online shopper spends a specific amount of money on purchasing products on an e-commerce site, the site will deliver the products to the customer without shipping fee.

20

Figure 2. Top Reason People Shop Online (2021)

Source: Oberlo, 2021 It is true that e-commerce platforms offer free shipping is the number one reason why customer prefer to shop online. More than half (51%) of consumers said that free shipping is one of the key reasons they buy online. To repeat, people prefer the convenience of having their purchase delivered to them for free rather than go to physical stores. In case the product is not convenient for them to bring it home by themselves like big household, machines, they must pay extra fee for professional delivery companies. However, the amount of time consumers must wait for a product to be delivered influence their willingness to shop online. So, in addition to taking advantage of free delivery services, online buyers also want to receive their orders as soon as possible (‘‘Why do people shop online’’, 2021).

2.4.5. The factor truth and privacy

Kidane & Sharma (2016) indicate that e-commerce platforms not only need to persuade consumers that the product or service will meet their expectations, but also gain their trust. Trust is defined in the online context as the belief that allows online shoppers to readily share their personal and financial information with retailers and e-commerce sites. The factor trust helps consumers overcome their fears of uncertainty and risk and engage in ‘trust-related behaviours’

21 with e-commerce sites, such as revealing personal information, or completing purchases. At the same time, this factor sometimes delays the consumer purchasing decision as they are not feeling free to share personal information with e-commerce sites. Thus, e-commerce platforms need to build trust with their consumers to reduce fear of online transactions (Kidane & Sharma, 2016).

There is no doubt that the security policy and privacy of e-commerce platforms are key elements that earn consumers’ trust. Solomon et al. (2006) declare that this factor trust contains the security surrounding credit card payments and the privacy of shared information.

By understanding one of limitations of online shopping is that consumers can not touch items, the availability of a return policy is necessary. In terms of psychological benefit, a return policy can minimize consumers’ feeling of regret when buying. Furthermore, consumers consider a return policy as an improvement in a company’s service quality, and the perceived quality of a firm impact purchasing decisions (Kidane & Sharma, 2016). Hence, e-commerce sites should offer an easy return policy as it affects consumers’ decisions to buy online. If consumers are not satisfied with their purchase decision, for instance the product does not meet their expectations.

In this case, they may want to return the product to the seller. As a result, a money back guarantee is supposed as a risk-reduction technique, and consumers are more comfortable shopping online if they know they will receive their money back (Kidane & Sharma, 2016).

Finally, we can claim that there are basically lots of factors influence online consumer behaviour.

And the highest motivations that drive the decision of online purchase of consumers are the factor of websites, products, prices, delivery services, and truth. Whereas, depending on online consumers‘ characteristics, the influence of each element is not the same.